'Neknominate' craze linked to another death

A man who filmed himself downing 30 shots of pure gin has become another casualty of the worldwide craze "neknomination", according to English media reports.

England’s Bradley Eames, 20, posted a video of himself drinking two pints of gin within two minutes on February 6, finishing the stunt by telling his friends: "This is how you drink".

"Neknomination", the new digital chain mail game that encourages a person to film themselves "necking" or skolling a drink, then nominating a friend at the end of the film to take up the same challenge, has swept across the globe, with increasingly disastrous consequences.

Bradley Eames drank two pints of gin in two minutes before his death.

In the video – which has since been taken down – Mr Eames tell the camera that he has been watching his friends "do the neknominate, but to me, I don’t think they’re good, so I bought myself some gin and this is how you drink".

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According to the UK's Daily Mail, initial autopsy results were inconclusive, and police will conduct an investigation into the cause of death.

Mr Eames' death follows that of 19-year-old Irish national Jonny Byrne, whose body was found in a river County Carlow, Ireland, earlier in February, after he reportedly jumped in after taking part in neknominate the night before.

A day before Mr Byrne's body was found, Ross Cummins, 22, a Dublin DJ, died after a night of heavy drinking. Irish media reported his death was also linked to the game.

Men in particular are sharing their drinking escapades on social media, trying to out-do each other and come up with more outlandish ways to complete the challenge.

On Monday, Radio 3AW obtained footage of a young boy, still wearing his school uniform, skolling from a beer bottle.

The video, which was posted on YouTube, was filmed by the the boy's father.

National Policy Manager for the Australian Drug Foundation, Geoff Munro, said neknomination was "just the latest extension of our drinking culture".

"Our society teaches young people that getting drunk is the aim of drinking," he said.

"We are very concerned about people dying across the world from this, and we worry that if this continues, it is inevitable that we will see Australians die from the same behaviour".

Mr Munro said neknomination was a form of bullying "which was particularly threatening, because it involved people demanding their friends consume potentially lethal quantities of alcohol".

In January, police were sent a video by Crime Stoppers showing a 21-year-old Eltham man getting out of the boot of a car to "neck' a full schooner of beer before getting back into the boot while the car zoomed off.